Westmont Men’s Soccer (5-6-2) finished up its road trip to the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a 2-1 win over Hawai’i Pacific (2-5-1, 4-8-2 PacWest) on Tuesday afternoon.
As a result of the win, Westmont’s conference record improved to 5-1. The Warriors are now tied with Point Loma Nazarene (9-4, 5-1) for first place in the PacWest men’s soccer standings.
“I think Hawai’i Pacific is a really good team with some exceptional players,” Westmont head coach Morgan Cathey said. “I think the third game in six days is always going to be difficult to play the way that we normally play. However, I was so enthralled and impressed by the amount of work that our guys put in throughout the match today.
“We obviously made a lot of subs, but there is only a level of freshness one can have, given the heat and the schedule.
“I was incredibly impressed by their application in every moment today. I think in the first half we gave up one chance and in the second half we only gave up two chances. Unfortunately, the rebound fell to them on one of those chances.”
Cathey was equally impressed with his team’s offensive effort.
“I thought we were incredibly dangerous throughout the game,” Cathey said. “We created a lot of good chances and I was impressed by our ability to impose on them in a way I haven’t seen other teams do.”
The Warriors’ opened the scoring in the 38th minute when Matthew Morgan crossed what Cathey described as a, ‘really good pass,’ from the left side of the field and found Cash Anderholt to the right of the goal.
Anderholt fired off a shot that rebounded off the crossbar and back into play. After a bit of a scrum in front of the goal, Michael Stull got a clear shot and recorded his fourth goal of the season.
The Warriors extended the lead to 2-0 in the 62nd minute. Braeden Pryor, dribbling down the right flank, passed the ball to Connor Lynch. Lynch took his shot from the top of the six-yard box, connecting inside the near post.
“The second goal that we scored was everything that we talked about before the game,” Cathey said. “To see that executed was awesome. I think our front three – Daniel Tuscano, Leonel Olivo Ortiz and Michael Stull – were awesome today.
“We could have scored four or five goals today. It is great to see our guys firing at that level.”
The Sharks’ lone goal came in the 64th minute. Cade Anderson took a shot that was saved by Brady Highfill.
The ball rebounded back into play, however, and Anderson followed up his shot and put the rebound in the net.
With a 2-1 record in the State of Hawaii, Westmont returns home on Wednesday to prepare for the final stretch of the season.
Of the Warriors’ final four games of the regular season, three will be played on Thorrington Field. Next up, the Warriors will take on Academy of Art (2-4-1, 2-9-1) in a rare Monday home doubleheader.
Kick-off for the men is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. with the women following at 3:15 p.m.